S’mores Cheesecake

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and pull out your food processor. Bring a kettle of water to a boil—you’ll need it in a bit.

2. Unwrap the sleeves of graham crackers and put them in the bowl of your food processor. Grind the graham crackers until you have fine crumbs. You’ll need about 1 1/2 cups of crumbs. After the crackers have been fully ground, stir in the ground cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of sugar. While the food processor is on, slowly drizzle in the melted butter.

3. Once the butter is incorporated, spray the bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan with non-stick spray and dump in the graham cracker mixture. Using the bottom of a flat cup (or your hands) start pressing the graham cracker mixture to evenly distribute it across the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Cover the outside of the pan (bottom and sides) with some foil and put in the preheated oven for 12 minutes to set the crust. Then remove it from the oven and set crust aside to let it cool.

4. In the top of a double-boiler (or in a heat safe bowl, preferably glass, placed over a pot of simmering water; make sure you do not let the water touch the bowl), melt the chocolate chips. It should take about 5 minutes. Stir with a spatula until smooth and melted then remove it from the heat and set it aside to cool.

5. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or if you have a ton of arm strength), start beating the blocks of room temperature cream cheese with the mixer on medium for about 3 minutes, or until the cream cheese looks light and fluffy. Next, mix in the remaining cup of sugar. Once the sugar is incorporated, scrape the sides of the bowl and slowly drizzle in the melted chocolate. Once the chocolate is mixed in, add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. After that, mix in the vanilla extract and sour cream. Give the bowl one more good scrape of the sides and mix until the batter is well-incorporated and there aren’t many lumps.

6. Pour the mixture onto the cooled crust and smooth the top with your spatula. Fill a large roaster pan about halfway full with the boiling water. Carefully move the pan to the bottom rack of the oven. Put the pan with the cheesecake on the middle rack above the pan of steaming water—this will help to prevent cracking on the top of your cheesecake. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside and allow it to cool.

7. In a clean double boiler bowl over a pot of simmering water (as detailed in step 4), stir together the egg whites and sugar. Keep stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved and the egg whites are warm when you touch them. This will take about 5 minutes. Once the egg whites are warm, dump the mixture into a clean mixing bowl with the whisk attachment and mix in the cream of tartar. Turn the mixer on high and beat the egg whites until they hold a stiff peak and are shiny.

8. Once the egg white mixture is finished, fill the mixture into a piping bag. I just use a regular zip-top bag and snip off the corner. Pipe little rounds of the mixture onto a parchment paper or Silpat lined baking sheet. Turn on your broiler and brown the marshmallows. Be sure to watch with the oven door open so they don’t burn on you! It only takes one second of looking away before they burn. Once browned, take them out of the oven and set them aside.

9. Run a small knife around the outside of the cheesecake to separate it from the side of the springform pan. Carefully open the pan and remove the side. Using a spatula, gently place the marshmallow mounds onto the top of the cheesecake, cut a slice and enjoy!